Norm Macdonald

Norman Gene Macdonald (born October 17, 1963) is a Canadian actor and comedian. He is known for his biting sarcasm, distinct muttering, slurred delivery, and prevalent use of the word "crackwhore" which became well known during his three years anchoring Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update.

His father, Percy Macdonald, served with the Canadian Army during World War II and helped liberate the Netherlands. After the war, he and his wife Fern became teachers, who raised three sons, Norm, Leslie, and Neil.

Macdonald made another controversial joke during the February 24, 1996, show when he commented on the sentencing of John Lotter, who was convicted of brutally slaying transgender male Brandon Teena: "In Nebraska, a man was sentenced for killing a female crossdresser who had accused him of rape and two of her friends. Excuse me if this sounds harsh, but in my mind, they all deserved to die."

Macdonald's time with Saturday Night Live effectively ended in late 1997 when he was fired from the Weekend Update segment upon the insistence of NBC West Coast Executive Don Ohlmeyer, who pressured the producers to remove him, explaining that Macdonald was "not funny." Some believe that Don Ohlmeyer's friendship with O.J. Simpson — a celebrity whom Macdonald often antagonized on the show — may have fueled Ohlmeyer's decision. Ohlmeyer denied the rumor, arguing that other NBC late-night comedians (e.g., Jay Leno, Conan O'Brien, and other SNL players) also constantly lampooned Simpson with little to no sanction, and that his decision was based solely on audience reaction through tapes he had personally reviewed. Despite the incident, Macdonald left the show the following year under decent terms with Ohlmeyer, who originally pushed for producer Lorne Michaels to give Macdonald a shot at the Weekend Update desk in 1994. On February 28, 1998, one of his last appearances on SNL occurred as host of a fictitious TV show called Who's More Grizzled?, who asked questions of "mountain men" played by that night's host Garth Brooks and special guest Robert Duvall. In the sketch, Brooks' character said to Macdonald's character, "I don't much care for you," to which Macdonald replied, "A lot of people don't."

Macdonald returned to Saturday Night Live to host the October 23, 1999 show. In his opening monologue, he expressed resentment at having been fired, then concluded that the only reason he was asked to host was because "the show has gotten really bad" since he left. . His multiple utterances of "God damn" were edited out of future repeats of the episode.

Macdonald continued to make appearances on television shows and in films, including Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo, and The Animal, all of which starred fellow Saturday Night Live alumnus Rob Schneider and were produced by Adam Sandler.

Norm was a guest character on My Name Is Earl. In "Two Balls, Two Strikes" He played Lil Chubby, the son of Burt Reynolds character Richard Chubby. Lil Chubby is a parody of Burt Reynolds, very similar to his portrayal of Reynolds on SNL.

Paradoxically, while referring to himself as apolitical, Macdonald has made controversial reference to politically-charged issues, with mixed humorous results.